“It’s nothing much, but I saw it in a shop window earlier today and thought he might enjoy it.”
“Well then. I will leave you to it.”
Thanking her, Amelia walked toward the window announcing her presence by speaking Jeremy’s name so as not to startle him. “May I join you?” she then asked. He didn’t respond nor did he look at her. She paused for a second, then lowered herself to the vacant spot beside him on the bench and turned her gaze outward. “I thought there would be more people out walking at this time of day.” Still no response. She considered a couple of ladies approaching from the northern end of the street. A gentleman coming from the south tipped his hat at them as he passed.
“Thirty-seven.”
Amelia glanced across at Jeremy. “Thirty-seven.... people?” She could only guess.
“Thirty-seven ladies since noon and forty-three gentlemen. Five children and eleven dogs.”
“I see. You live on a busy street.”
He looked at her with a blank expression. “That is ten fewer people than yesterday, but the same number of dogs.” He turned away from her again.
They sat in silence for several minutes. Amelia watched a bird land on the roof of the opposite building, then opened her reticule and pulled out a wooden cube. “I brought this for you,” she said, holding the item toward him.
“What is it?” His eyes remained fixed on something outside.
“A puzzle. You have to take it apart and then put it back together again. I thought you might enjoy it.”
Abandoning whatever it was that had held his interest, he dropped his gaze to her outstretched hand. A long moment passed during which Amelia wondered if the boy would accept her offering or not. In the end, she placed it on the bench between them and stood.
“I must return downstairs now, but I do hope to see you again soon.”
“Will you give me another ride then?”
She nodded, even though he wouldn’t see, his attention now fixed on the cube. “If you like.”
When he said nothing further, she backed away before turning around and leaving the room. It was hard, trying to engage with a person who showed no hint of what they were thinking or feeling, and it was so much worse when it was a child whom one expected to laugh and play. It made her wish there was more she could do to help, except she was not really in a position to do so. She was merely a friend, and that was probably all she ever would be.
“What is your impression?” Lady Everly asked on their way home in the carriage. “Of the duke’s son?”
Startled, though she’d known the question would come, Amelia considered her answer carefully, then said, “He is extraordinarily bright for his age. I enjoyed his company very well indeed.”
Lady Everly stared straight back at her. Amelia forced herself to hold her gaze. “They are opening up to you. More so than to anyone else. Her Grace’s attentiveness to you is also quite noticeable. I cannot help but wonder why that might be.”
“I do not know. Perhaps you were right when you suggested that her invitation to tea had something to do with my need to marry more quickly than Juliette. She might simply be studying me in order to find my most appealing qualities.”
“Hmm... I do not think it is quite that simple.”
“You do not?”
“No.” Lady Everly’s expression turned pensive. “I think she is laying the foundation for something else, like pairing you off with her son.”
Amelia’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
Lady Everly nodded. “Yes. That has to be it. She has obviously taken a liking to you, and with the death of her daughter in mind, she may be hoping to keep you around. Which she would be able to do if you were to marry the duke.”
“I think that is quite a conclusion to make on the basis of one private visit and my introduction to Master Jeremy.”
Lady Everly smiled. “Not when nobody else I can think of has ever laid eyes on the boy. He is fiercely protected, and yet you managed to ingratiate yourself enough to obtain a private meeting with him.”
Unwilling to explain that she’d only been allowed it because she understood Jeremy’s behavior and would never judge him for it, Amelia averted her gaze and looked out the window. “You are mistaken about the dowager duchess’s intentions, my lady. She knows as well as I that I would not make a suitable duchess. To presume otherwise would be a mistake.”
“If that is what you truly believe, then there is something wrong with your self-esteem. Because it is my opinion that you deserve to marry the man of your choosing, even if that man does happen to be a duke.”
Chapter 19
